Flight to Germany takes the high road … to Scotland

Düsseldorf, and not a sporran to be seen. Image: RockytheRooster | CC BY-SA 3.0

An airliner flew to Scotland instead of Germany yesterday after the wrong flight plan was filed. British Airways flight BA3271, operated from London City airport by German sub-contractor WDL Aviation, initially landed in the Scottish capital, Edinburgh, rather than the German city of Dusseldorf, on the Rhine river.

The mix-up appeared to have been caused by a previous day’s flight plan being reused in error, the BBC reported.

British Airways told the BBC the aircraft’s final flight on Sunday had been a return trip to Edinburgh from London City airport and it appeared the same flight plan was mistakenly repeated the next day. Because the aircraft flew according to a filed flight plan there had been no danger, British Airways said.

‘I have fallen asleep, missed my stop and woken up at the end of the district line before. This morning I never expected to wake up from my Dusseldorf-bound flight … in Edinburgh,’ Peter James-Hamilton said.

The flight continued from Edinburgh to Dusseldorf after the unscheduled stopover.

Hang on..thats not funny. Think of all the ‘systems’ that failed and if it was a product of the almighty dollar and incessant cost cutting – and pilots not telling bean counters to take a flying leap themselves..

I think it would be useful to understand what the crew were thinking. When they got to (say) 100NM north of London, did they still believe they were going to Dusseldorf as they expected, or did they actually think they were supposed to be flying to EDI?